A collection of documents relating to the actions of the Palestinian Arab delegation in London in the years 1921-1922, from the estate of the head of the delegation, Ibrahim Shammas (al-Shammas). Most documents are from London, some from additional locations, ca. 1921-1922. Arabic and English.
In 1919, in the aftermath of the British conquest of Palestine, a number of Muslim and Christian inhabitants of the country coordinated their efforts and established the Palestine Arab Congress. At its core, the campaign focused on opposition to the Zionist Movement alongside an attempt to prevent the realization of the Balfour Declaration and preclude it from being included in the League of Nations’s mission document for the British Mandate for Palestine. The present collection of documents relates to the actions of the Congress in London prior to the publication of the text of the British Command Paper governing the Mandate for Palestine. This collection includes:
· Copies of circulars (duplication of manuscripts) on official stationery of the delegation. Some bear the signature of the head of the delegation, Musa Kazim al-Husayni. One circular is partly handwritten (most probably by al-Husayni himself) and is unsigned. London, April-July 1922. Arabic.
The circulars include protocols of meetings with British politicians, including High Commissioner Herbert Samuel, and the representative for Palestinian matters of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Winston Churchill; they bear details of the delegation’s efforts to abrogate the Balfour Declaration and amend both the British Mandate for Palestine’s mission document and the Treaty of Sèvres, and more. One of the circulars contains an account of a meeting attended by Chaim Weizmann. The same document also includes quotes from Churchill, asserting that the "Balfour Declaration is an indivisible part of [the] Palestine Mandate" and "an inheritance from the War".
One of the circulars is not intact. Some of the circulars appear in duplicate copies.
· Copies of printed letters from the head of the delegation. Unsigned. May-July 1922. English. Including: Copy of a letter on the subject of the situation in Syria, May 1922 (two copies, one addressed to the US Ambassador to the Court of St. James [official title of an ambassador to the UK], and the other to the Prime Minister of Great Britain); copy of a letter to Winston Churchill regarding the leasing of lands in Haifa to the Jewish Colonization Association, June 1922; copy of a letter proclaiming the rejection – by the inhabitants of Palestine represented by the delegation – of the Balfour Declaration, July, 1922 (two copies, one addressed to the President of the Council of the League of Nations, and the other to Winston Churchill); and letter protesting acceptance of the mission document for the British Mandate (two copies, one addressed to the President of the Council of the League of Nations, and the other to the British Foreign Secretary).
· Copy of a printed letter in the name of Winston Churchill, in response to a letter from the delegation, April 1922. Two copies.
· "Remarks on the Interim Report of the High Commissioner on the Civil Administration of Palestine from July 1st to June 30th 1921". Lengthy document (duplication of typewritten text), containing comments of the delegation regarding the Interim Report of the High Commissioner on the Civil Administration of Palestine in the one-year period from July 1, 1920, to June 30, 1921.
· Printed Booklet: "Palestine – Correspondence with the Palestine Arab Delegation and the Zionist Organization, His Majesty's Stationary Office", London, 1922. English.
· Additional documents, some hand signed, and others bearing the official inked stamp of the delegation, including letters to Ibrahim al-Shammas, and a printed document dealing with British policy in Palestine and the significance of the Balfour Declaration within the framework of the British Mandate, and more.

Enclosed: · Albert Habib Hourani, "Great Britain and the Arab World", John Murray, London, [1945]. A booklet containing a review of the situation in the Arab world, and the policy of the British authorities in Arab lands. · "The Arab Higher Committee, Its Origins, Personnel and Purposes", New York: The Nation Associates, 1947: Document submitted to the United Nations dealing with the ties between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini and the German Nazi regime.

Dozens of documents (some 75 leaves. and a printed booklet). Size and condition vary. Overall good to fair condition. Stains, incl. dampstains. Tears.